Quebec election likely to return separatist Parti Québécois to power
Voters in Quebec cast ballots in a provincial election on Monday that polls indicated would deliver victory to the Parti Québécois, a separatist party seeking independence from Canada. The party, led by Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, has pledged to hold a referendum on independence within two years, though analysts suggest its support stems primarily from positions on immigration and identity rather than separatism itself.
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Voters in the Canadian province of Quebec went to the polls on Monday in provincial elections that, according to pre-election polling, were likely to deliver victory to the Parti Québécois (PQ), a party that has promised to hold a referendum on independence from Canada within the next two years.
A PQ win would mark the first time in over a decade that the separatist movement has held power in the French-speaking province of roughly nine million people. Such a victory would likely reopen long-standing disputes over language and identity between Quebec and the federal government in Ottawa.
The party's resurgence has been attributed to leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, a 49-year-old Oxford-educated lawyer who has positioned himself in contrast to François Legault, Quebec's long-serving premier who resigned earlier this year. Analysts have said that St-Pierre Plamondon's appeal rests less on his separatist platform—which most Quebec voters do not support—than on right-leaning positions regarding identity issues. He has blamed immigration for pressures on schools, rising crime and housing costs, and has pledged to cut immigration levels and ban conspicuous religious symbols worn by teachers and students.
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